The Woe of Fallen
Chapter 1: New Scars
A/N: Hello! Welcome to this story. My name's Cynthia, nice to meet you!
If you have not read my other fic, The Shadow of Fire, then you may or will be very confused by this story. This is its sequel. However, I have tried to make it appeal to those who haven't read my mentioned fanfic prior to this. But I highly encourage you to read that one first!
Anyways, here we go. Let us enter into the drama that is the world of RWBY...
Five Years after the Shadow of Fire Incident...
Freezing.
The temperature had decreased rapidly in the cellar. Blake Belladonna sighed as she adjusted her dark coat, sick of all of this waiting around. She should have been back on a plane to Vale hours ago, not stuck in the clinic basement for what felt like a millennia.
"Just one more moment, Miss Belladonna." The clerk coughed as he twisted the lid shut, his aging fingers tapping against the bottle of medicine as his breath was visible in the air.
"Will this be enough?" Blake asked as she brushed her hair aside, golden eyes narrowed on her prize.
"More than." The clerk noted, fixing his lab coat. "If anything, this should hold her stable for at least a month or two, that is until I can send you more prescription. This type of treatment... is very tricky."
"And expensive." Blake growled, tossing the man a small baggy of currency. "Very expensive."
The man weighed the sack, licking his lips in approval. "Anything else, my dear?"
"I'm good, thank you sir." Blake bowed her head and moved off, ready for her trek back to Vale, and out of the unbearable cold.
Jaune Arc paced back and forth at Vale International Airport, looking up at the arriving listings every few seconds before resuming his pacing.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as she sat just beside the anxious boy, legs crossed as she was bundled up in a red winter coat. "Atlas is far away, it could still be hours before her flight gets here."
"I know. I know, but what if it crashes!" Jaune surged with worry, drawing a chuckle from Sun, who sat nearby beside Penny.
"I'm sure Blake will be a-okay." Sun toyed with his staff, wearing his typical garb. Penny was busy looking up at the travel chart, trying to decipher the algorithm they used to prevent air collisions.
"But if she doesn't get here, then what are we going to do about W-"
"Oh don't be a worry wort, bud! Relax!" Sun cracked his neck, relaxing himself.
"Look, Jaune, here we go!" Pyrrha waved her hand as she spotted the noire haired girl moving towards them, carrying a brown duffle bag. "Hello again!"
"Pyrrha!" Blake smiled wide, greeting the girl with a hug as she handed the bag to Sun, the group flocking to the Faunus.
"How was the flight? Did you get everything we need? You weren't scammed were you?" Jaune began to panic before he was smacked on the back of the head.
Nora gave a massive grin as Jaune cringed from the assault on the floor, Ren standing behind her with a blank expression.
"Hey Nora..." Jaune groaned on the floor as Blake laughed, adjusting her coat. "This is much better weather than Atlas, right?"
"Certainly." Blake shivered a little. "How is everything here?"
"Fine." Pyrrha helped Jaune back up to his feet. "Some people have been poking around the Temple but the local police seem to be taking care of it."
The Temple, a dimensional transporter designed by their good friend Orion, built at the center of Vale. Orion was an interesting individual, one Blake looked up to immensely. And not just because he was a God.
The Gods and Goddesses of Remnant, a collective society of extremely powerful beings capable of altering reality, were once a long forgotten legend. Only a handful of tribal monks and scholars deemed insane by their colleagues knew of their existence, that is until little over five years ago.
The world Blake and her friends occupied was assaulted by the God of Destruction, Lord Xalveris. Having had torn the fabric between the realm of the Gods and their own, he sought to end all of existence to fulfill his sick nature. Luckily for everyone, Orion and a band of other Gods fought with Humanity against Xalveris's madness. In the end, Xalveris was destroyed thanks to Weiss Schnee's efforts, preventing the destruction of everything. The Temple was designed to bridge the gap between the Gods and Mortals, allowing Man to learn from their creators.
And now, with Vale rebuilt and the government reinstated, the Kingdom was a thriving community once again.
"Have you heard anything from Ruby or Yang?" Blake asked as Pyrrha shook her head.
"They haven't sent back in years, Blake. I'm sure if they could they would, but all we can do is just wait." Pyrrha sighed as Blake clenched her fist, only to release it moments later.
"Yeah... sorry, it's just this would all be so much easier to deal with if they were here." Blake sighed, shaking her head. "Nevermind that, what about Orion?"
"He's scheduled to visit pretty soon. Maybe a day or two." Jaune adjusted the sword at his belt. "Hope he brings company. All these new Gods we haven't met before is really something."
"It is." Blake bit her lip. "It really is."
Blake gently knocked on the door of a downtown apartment. The classical looking building stood in slight contrast to the majority of the interior city, which bore much more technological advancements and structures. Biker throwing the local newspaper still roamed the streets as Blake awaited a response.
A thin man answered the door, wearing a coffee stained lab coat. A pair of foggy classes alongside a messy white beard greeted the ninja Huntress.
"Ah! Miss Belladonna!" Doctor Firefall, Chief Medical Advisor at Beacon, stood in the doorway. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, doctor. And you?" Blake asked.
"I'm fantastic, the patient, however, not too hot." Firefall's expression turned from humor to grim, adjusting his glasses. "Do you have the medicine?"
"Yes." Blake reached for the duffle bag from Sun, handing it to Firefall. The doctor opened the bag and withdrew a container holding dozens of tiny multi-colored pills. Firefall gave them a shake before nodding his head, tossing the bag to the floor of the building.
"Miss Belladonna, shall we attend to the patient?" The doctor asked as Blake nodded, turning to her group of friends.
"See you all around then?" Blake asked, everyone nodded in agreement.
"Definitely." Jaune smiled. "Take care. Say hello to her for us."
Blake waved the group off and entered the estate.
The apartment wasn't the nicest thing she had ever seen, but it did feel slightly like home to her. Ozpin had picked the building out himself, the owner allowing renovations to be made to remake it into a similar design to their old dorm room at Beacon. Even now, Blake still couldn't believe that she had graduated alone without her team. Ruby and Yang had traveled to the realm of the Gods for training and rebuilding what Xalveris and his civil war had destroyed, and Weiss...
"Miss Schnee. We are coming in, okay?" Doctor Firefall spoke aloud to no reply, entering anyways.
The room was an exact replica of their old dorm, down to the floorboards themselves. It was thought that it would be better to insight better times into the former heiress's head.
Weiss Schnee sat alone in the room, resting in a pearl white rocking chair at the center. She wore a gown of icy blue material, staring off blankly into the wall.
Blake noticed the rack of weapons sitting on the wall to her right. Weiss's rapier sat beside a long glassy spear, looking almost hollow. A suit of damaged grey armor, knightly fashion, was held in a glass case in the corner of the room, staring Blake down as she looked away.
"Weiss? How are you doing, dear?" Firefall asked as he set the canister down, kneeling down beside her.
"Weiss." Weiss spoke the single word, gulping as sweat began to form on her forehead. "Weiss is okay."
"Did you get some rest like I asked?" Firefall asked, noticing the dark rings around her eyes had not faded, especially noticeable around her left eye.
"No." Weiss gripped the handles of the chair. "No sleep. Darkness. Bad. Weiss doesn't like the dark. Stay awake."
"You can't keep doing this, Weiss." Firefall sighed, grabbing a bottle of water from a nearby fridge. "You'll get a cold."
"Weiss will be fine." The girl seemed to twitch, growling as her left eye narrowed, her iris altering to a void color.
Blake placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place as she cooed the girl.
"Can we begin?" Blake asked as the color began to grow more prevailing against her eye. "I don't want another outburst."
"Indeed. Keep her still." Doctor Firefall ordered as he took a pill out of the tube, crushing it into the water bottle. The doctor mixed the liquid around, the color changing to night black.
"Dark!" Weiss screamed, struggling violently as Blake held her down in the chair, grunting.
"Well that's unfortunate." Firefall sighed as he tired to remember to buy food coloring later on. "Keep her still, this will only take a minute."
After a few minutes of struggling, Firefall managed to force the girl to down the entire bottle of liquid and drug. Her body twitched violently for several minutes to the point Blake was worried she was dying, but Firefall knew otherwise. Her iris changed back to icy blue all around, slowing her breathing to normal levels.
"Weiss?" Firefall asked hopefully.
Weiss didn't answer, sitting still before shutting her eyes, drifting off to sleep, much to Blake's worry.
In the aftermath of the battle between herself and Xalveris, the pair had been killed by the leader of the Gods, Yveltal. In her death, Xalveris planted the seeds of his own continued existence. By the sheer will of Yveltal, she was granted continued existence, yet at a cost.
In the two years after her resurrection, Weiss changed. Xalveris began to manifest himself as a blob in her left eye, and when he first appeared, Weiss nearly lost her sanity. She was driven into a comatose state, having tried to assassinate Ruby in her sleep under his influence, and up to now, had been lost.
"We will have to see how it affects her psyche when she wakes, but at least she's resting." Firefall scratched his beard. "All we can do now is wait."
Blake sighed, but agreed. "I understand. I just wish we could get her back to normal. It's the least she deserves."
"Mind if I ask if Lord Yveltal was able to examine Weiss?" Firefall asked the Faunus, who shook her head in protest.
"I considered it, but we have no idea how he would treat this, or if anything he does could release Xalveris once again." Blake shifted in her boots. "It's almost like Weiss had become his prison in a sense."
"Let us hope the medicine was worth the cost then." Firefall pulled a blanket over the girl's lap, ushering Blake out of the room.
Blake adjusted her coat as she looked out the window, noticing something odd down the street, a sigil sprayed upon a brick wall.
"Doctor?" Blake asked as he moved towards her, following her pointing finger out to the street.
Remains of spray paint laid sprawled on the grounds besides the wall, made up of many colors. But that wasn't the concerning bit to Blake.
Upon the wall was a emblem of a white featureless girl with a ponytail, a bold red X across the image, dripping like blood. Right below the concerning spray was a defiant grey oval with a C within.
"What is that?" Blake asked in a demanding tone, Firefall going quiet.
"Is that what I think it is?"
Blake nodded, growling menacingly under her voice. "Weiss."
Blake walked the sidewalk north to the center of the Kingdom, repressing the worrisome image she had seen earlier. Right now all that mattered was she speak to Orion about the developments, and hope he could do something about it.
The Temple was a hub for traffic in both local and international regard. Nearly as popular as the rebuilt-CCT, the Temple attracted visitors from across the globe, everyone pilgriming to the site to see the Gods first-hand.
Blake waved a fancy looking badge at the guard situated at the main entrance, opening the line up for her alone despite the protest of others waiting for their own turn.
The Temple resembled a standard capitol building, a large dome at the center with a large antenna poking up to the sky above. Velvet roped barriers lead citizens down a pathway to the center of the building, where they could meet and possibly, if lucky, converse with a God. However, it was mostly just a hub transport between realities, ready for use at any time.
Blake waited in a private viewing area, arms crossed as she watched the center plate of the transportation device spin ever so quickly. A mixture of Dust and the Ichor or blood of the Gods fueled the device, powering it up as it sought to pull forth visitors into their own reality. The plate began to spark with blue electricity before a bright flash caused everyone to avert their eyes, turning back to see a single man.
Cheering erupted as a man emerged from the plate, waving to the populous with a cocky grin. Wearing a thick black trench coat over a well kept suit, the man ran a hand through his well trimmed ebony beard. His pure golden eyes regarded those around him with judgement and kindness.
"Blake Belladonna!" Orion, the God of Fate, called out to the special area, waving his hand as he moved closer. "Is that you?"
"It is." Blake smiled slightly, shaking her head at his cheerfulness.
Orion, second son of Yveltal, was one of the most powerful Gods they had encountered. He had aided them in the downfall of the sinister White Fang organization, along with saving Vale from impending doom. He had saved their lives on numerous occasions, and Blake had no idea how to repay that debt.
"How are you, dear girl?" Orion smirked as he stayed behind the rope blocking him from Blake. "Everything alright? Haven't been here in a good while."
"It's been a few years." Blake tried to smile, clearing her throat. "When you are done with things here, we need to talk. Urgently."
"About what?" Orion asked as he partially frowned. "What's wrong?"
"It's about Weiss." Blake whispered, looking around. "Meet me at this address."
Blake pressed a piece of paper into his hands, the God nodding as he understood the urgency of the situation.
"Gotcha." Orion gave the Faunus a quick hug before moving off towards the crowd, arms spread wide with a grin across his face as he greeted the people.
Blake walked out the exit doors, heading to the meeting point as quick as possible.
A lone man dressed in dark rags shook a can of spray paint, standing beside the house of Weiss Schnee. He gently pressed his hand down on the white labeled canister and began to work, not hearing the pressing footsteps behind him as snow made way.
A flash of gold light and a soft whimper ended the vandal, a sword dripping with blood lowered to the ground before retracting. The liquid covered the unfinished sigil he had been making; a woman made of white with a long ponytail.
The owner of the sword looked up to the apartment Weiss resided in, flicking his hand as he pocketed a golden pen rather than a sword. Adjusting his hood, the swordsman decided to move off down the nearby alleyway, into the unlit path before disappearing into darkness.
Coming Soon:
The Woe of Fallen: Chapter 2: Resurrection
